Kaberamaido, (UG): Members of the Education Policy Review Commission (EPRC) were on Tuesday shocked to establish that the sh5 billion government projects have been lying idle at Kaberamaido Technical Institute for at least six months after setting everything.
The three projects including a milk processing plant, fruit factory and animal feed processing plant were established by the government through the Ministry of Education and Sports under the Uganda Skills Development Project (USDP) with funds from the World Bank.
The government of Uganda identified Kaberamaido Technical Institute to be a pilot institution for food processing and funding was obtained from the World Bank to put up the structures before installing the machines. The production department at the Technical School was assigned to charge of the processing plants after completion.
The commission led by Mr Amanya Mushega was on a tour at the school as they camped in the Teso sub-region to compile recommended views from various stakeholders in the sub-region where they learnt from the institute leadership that despite having all relevant equipment to run the plants, the Education Ministry has since failed to officially launch operations yet they have hope to generate income from the projects.
According to the Deputy Principal of the Institution, Mr Boniface Ninsiima, the projects are well packed with relevant equipment and some staff were even trained in India about operating the machines, how to process juice, adding value to milk and animal feeds but the line ministry has not officially launched their operations.
Mr Ninsiima expressed hope that the students will be equipped with the required skills once the projects start operations adding that it will benefit the community since it will be an income-generating venture on top of training some people on project skills.
“If these plants start working, our students will be equipped with the required skills that are demanded by the world of work. The institute will also benefit from this because it will act as income income-generating project and even people from outside will benefit from employment and other people outside can be trained from here,” Mr. Ninsiima said.
However, Mr Mushega asked the relevant authorities responsible to immediately launch the project as it could help the community with a market for their fruits, milk and animal wastes.
Most of the staff led by the deputy principal lamented over welfare matters which could be realized from the idle projects and Mr. Mushega was concerned when they narrated to him that students are missing out on gaining skills which are key in this world of science and technology.
Mr Mushega, in the company of other commissioners like Mr Bryton Byarugaba, Ms Abenakyo Monica and others later visited various primary and secondary schools and interacted with teachers and learners on their opinions on the impending education policy review.
The District Education Officer (DEO) of Kaberamaido District Mr Esiku James said that there is a lack of enough raw materials for kick-starting the production work in addition to inadequate power to run all the machines. He also said the project could either be lacking raw materials or the staff failed to master well on their operations.
“The principal is saying that the power supply is inadequate to run all the machines and there is a lack of raw materials for kick-starting the processing plants and this lies with the production department of the institute to ensure that raw materials are produced within the institution,” Mr Esiku said before advising the institute to get raw materials from the community after mobilizing them.
Meanwhile, the district chairperson Mr Rex Lackya expressed dissatisfaction with the administration’s argument that the official projects launch is crippling work, saying it doesn’t prohibit them from handling the intended purpose of the projects.
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